


There's Always a First

by Bremol



Category: Bonanza
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-12
Packaged: 2017-10-22 13:37:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bremol/pseuds/Bremol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben Cartwright has just turned eighteen and receives a surprising birthday gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's Always a First

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in response to a challenge I found on a Bonanaza forum to write about Ben's first time.

_“It’s your eighteenth birthday, Benny.”_

 _Ben snarled his nose at the nickname.  “Ah, Jake, don’t call me that.”_

 _Jake, the scraggly old cook on the ship Ben served on, gave the young man a wink.  “Now, Benny.  I’m tryin’ to tell ya that I’ve got a surprise for ya.”_

 _Sighing, Ben shook his head and laughed.  The man would never stop calling him by that ridiculous nickname, but he supposed he wouldn’t have it any other way.  Jake was a good friend, like the father that Ben had lost so many years ago.  “Alright, Jake.  What is the surprise?”_

 _Jake grinned and handed Ben a key.  “This.”_

 _Ben frowned as he looked at the cold metal in his hand.  “A key?  What’s it a key to?”_

 _“Now see, that’s the surprise.”  Jake laughed at the look on the young man’s face.  “Just go on down to the address on this here piece of paper.  You’ll find out soon enough.”_

 _Shaking his head, Ben chuckled as he tucked the paper and key into his pocket.  “I’ve got a few things to do first, but as soon as Captain says I’m free, I’ll go see what you’ve left for me.”_

 _Jake nodded.  “Tis fine.  You aren’t expected until dark anyway.”_

 _Shaking his head, Ben frowned.  “It better not be a surprise party, Jake.  You know how I feel about parties.”_

 _“Aye, Benny, that I do.”_

 _“See you later, Jake.”  Ben waved at the man, wondering as he walked just what the old man was up to.  He’d meant what he said.  He hated parties and wanted nothing to do with one.  No matter if this was a special birthday or not._

 _B**C_

 _Staring at the house, Ben looked down at the paper in his hands to make sure he’d read it right.  “What in the world?” he mumbled as he put the paper back in his pocket and pulled the key out.  Shrugging his shoulders, he walked up the steps onto the porch, his hand steady as he put the key in the lock and turned._

 _Walking inside, he found a nicely furnished home, and an auburn headed woman standing on the last step of the stairway leading to the second level of the house.  She was an older woman, probably in her forties if Ben guessed correctly, but still stunning in her beauty.  “Excuse me, Ma’am.  I’m afraid there’s been some mistake.”_

 _Smiling, she shook her head.  “Only if you’re not Ben Cartwright,” she whispered, voice low and sultry._

 _For the first time, Ben noticed the way she was dressed.  What in the world had Jake gotten him into?  Eyes wide, he started to back toward the door, reaching blindly behind him for the knob.  “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but,” he stumbled to a stop when she smiled at him._

 _Holding out her hand, she gave him a smile that beckoned him closer.  “It’s alright.  I’m not what you think, Ben.  I’m a friend of Jake’s.  He and my husband worked together.”_

 _“Husband?”  Ben asked, even as he moved closer, taking her outstretched hand without realizing he’d done so._

 _“He’s gone, Ben.  Lost at sea seven years ago.”_

 _“I’m sorry,” he whispered._

 _She smiled and caressed his face with her free hand.  “I’m lonely, and Jake, being Jake, decided to give us both a present.”  Tracing the features of his face, she sighed,  “So handsome.  You’ll break some woman’s heart some day.”_

 _“I hope not.”_

 _“I meant that in a good way, Ben.”_

 _“Oh,” he looked down, feeling himself grow warm.  “Thank you.”_

 _“Come,” she whispered as she tugged on his hand._

 _“I,” he started, stopping when she touched a finger to his lips._

 _“I know.  That’s what I’m going to do.  I’m going to teach you how to pleasure a woman and give you pleasure while I’m at it.”  She winked._

 _Ben’s eyes widened as he stared at her, not realizing he was following her up the stairs until he found himself standing in her bedroom.  “Ma’am, I can’t let you do that.  What will people say about you?”_

 _“The name is Arianna, and I don’t care what people might say about me.  I’m the widow of a lowly sailor.  No one takes notice of me.”  She tugged at the sleeves of his coat, placing it on the chair before turning back to him to begin removing the rest of his clothes._

 _“Arianna,” he breathed when her gentle, graceful hands moved over his bare chest._

 _“Mmm,” she hummed.  “I like the way you say my name.  Say it again.”_

 _“Arianna,” he repeated.  “Are you sure about this?”_

 _Staring up into the kind, dark eyes of this stranger, she smiled.  “I’m sure.  It’s been so long.  I miss loving and being loved.  Let me show you how wonderful it can be, Ben.”_

 _Reaching up with a trembling hand, Ben caressed an auburn curl from her shoulder, his breath catching at the feel of her creamy skin against his fingers.  “Alright,” he acquiesced._

 _“It’s alright to touch me, Ben,” she told him as she guided his hand to the ribbon that held her sheer robe closed at her throat._

 _Looking down at his hand then back up at her, Ben swallowed as he pulled.  His dark eyes took in the rise and fall of her full breasts as she guided him to push the robe off her shoulders, letting it pool on the floor behind her.  Taking a deep breath when she encouraged him to lift the lace straps of her gown, he moaned when her body was revealed to him.  “Beautiful,” he whispered in awe at the picture of what he was sure was perfection standing before him._

 _Smiling up at him, Arianna held his gaze as she removed the last pieces of his clothing, sucking in a breath at the pure maleness of him.  “Oh my,” she whimpered at the size of him, a chill running up her spine at the thought of the pleasure he would bring her.  “Lay back on the bed, Ben,” she told him as she gently guided him backwards._

 _Ben did as told, his eyes never leaving Arianna.  He had been nervous but now he was anxious.  Anxious to feel her soft hands on his body.  He moaned.  Anxious to know what it felt like to hold a woman close without the barriers of clothes between them._

 _Sitting beside Ben on the bed, Arianna held his gaze as she let her hands move over every inch of him without touching that part of him that jutted out, seeking her attention.  Gently arousing him to full hardness, she wrapped her hand around him and felt him jerk.  “Easy, Ben.  Just concentrate on your breathing.”_

 _Ben gave her a tortured look.  “Concentrate,” he gulped when she moved her hand up over the tip of him then back down.  “on my breathing?” his voice nearly squeaked._

 _Smiling at him, she caressed his chest with her free hand as she continued her steady up and down rhythm with the other.  “Yes.  Easy,” she whispered when he jerked against her hand.  “Breathe, Ben.  In and out.  In and out,” she coaxed._

 _Ben concentrated on her voice and tried his best to breathe as she’d instructed, although his hips involuntarily bucked up each time she drew a fingernail up the underside of him, tracing the vein that bulged and pulsed there.  “Arianna,” he moaned when she leaned over, her teeth gently nipping a hard, flat nipple._

 _Smiling, Arianna had pity on him and released him.  Lying down beside him, she turned her head to watch him as he bit his lip and concentrated on slowing his breathing.  “Touch me, Ben,” she whispered._

 _Turning onto his side, Ben leaned up on an elbow.  Letting his eyes move from her face over the rest of her body, he took a shuddering breath.  “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” he told her, his voice a low rumble as he reached out to trace the path his eyes had taken.  Pausing at her breasts, Ben marveled at the way the soft flesh peaked and pebbled under his touch.  Moving his hand, he continued his exploration, his eyes darting back to hers when he heard her gasp and felt her tremble when his hands touched the tender flesh between her thighs.  “Arianna?  Did I do something wrong?”_

 _Arianna swallowed hard and took a deep breath.  “No, Ben.”  Her voice was low and breathy.  Covering his hand with hers, she guided him.  “Like this.  Easy and slow circles.”_

 _Ben watched their hands, his body growing more aroused at the sight.  “I just never knew,” he whispered._

 _Smiling, she moved her thighs further apart.  “I think we’ve done enough exploring, Ben,” she told him softly as she moved his hand.  Gently nudging him to move between her legs, she moved a bit beneath him to cradle him in just the right spot.  “Slow and easy again, Ben.  I’m not an innocent, but it’s been a while.”  She winked.  “And you’re a rather big man.”_

 _Ben blushed as he looked at her, then gasped when her hand guided him.  Slipping just the tip between her wet, swollen flesh, he moaned and closed his eyes, letting her hands guide him as he slid further into her, inch by inch, until he could go no further.  Gritting his teeth, he held still, waiting for her to tell him it was alright to move.  “Wet.  Hot.  Tight.”  So many words, but only those three would make it passed his suddenly lazy tongue._

 _Arianna was struggling herself.  She hadn’t lied about it having been a long time, or about Ben being a big man.  He was filling her like she’d never been filled and her body was nearly on overload from the feeling of it.  “Dear heavens, Ben.  You can move now, nice and easy.  And remember, breathe.”_

“What’s that, Pa?”  Adam asked as he came down the stairs, his eyes catching the far off look on his father’s face as he stared at the object in his hand.

Ben blinked and looked up at his son.  “A memento, Son.  Just a memento,” he answered as he looked back down at the curl of auburn he held in the palm of his hand.

Moving closer, Adam got a look at just what the object was.  Confused, he wondered whose hair it was.  “Pa?”

“Yes, Son?”  Ben asked.

“Whose hair is that?  None of your wives had hair that color.”

“No, Son, they didn’t.  This,” he paused, looking up at his son.  “Her name was Arianna.  She was,” he sighed and turned his gaze into the fire.  “There’s always a first, Son.”

“Ah,” the younger Cartwright murmured as he moved to sit in his chair.  “What made you think of her?”

“I received a telegram today telling me that she died last week.”  Ben’s voice held a note of wistfulness.

“I’m sorry, Pa.  How old was she?”

Ben smiled.  “She was ninety.”

Adam blinked, not having expected that.  “Pa, that means,”

Ben nodded.  “Yes, Adam.  She was older than me by twenty-seven years.”

Shaking his head, knowing that it was a bit strange that he was asking, but knowing that he had to know, Adam looked at the fire.  “I’m a bit confused, Pa.  How did you, well…?”

Ben chuckled.  “Remember me telling you about Jake?”

“You mean, Jake Flannigan?”  Adam asked, wondering what the old man had to do with this story.

“Yes, that’s him.  I forgot, you met him when you lived in Boston.”

Adam nodded as he looked up at his father.  “What about Jake?”

“Well, for my eighteenth birthday, he decided that it was time I learned how to be with a woman.  But he didn’t just want it to be any woman.”  Ben sighed.  “Arianna’s husband and Jake had served together until her husband was lost at sea.  Jake was a good friend of theirs.  My birthday present was also a present to her.  She was lonely and I needed to learn how to treat a woman in the bedroom.”

“Did you love her, Pa?”  Adam asked, hearing something in his father’s voice.

“I did.  I even asked her to marry me.”  He saw the shock on his son’s face.  “You have to understand, Adam.  It was different than a young man’s usual first time.”  Ben looked pointedly at his son.  “She hadn’t been with anyone since her husband died.  She didn’t make a living doing that sort of thing.  She was just a lonely widow.”

“So you were with her more than just that first time?”

Ben nodded.  “Yes.  Every time we were in port there, I would go to her and she would show me more.”  Staring back into the fire, he sighed.  “The last time I was with her was shortly after I realized that I’d fallen in love with your mother.  She gave me one final lesson, kissed me, then sent me on my way.  She taught me how to pleasure a woman before myself, to make sure she enjoyed the experience as much as I did.”

“Did she ever remarry?”

Shaking his head, Ben looked back at the lock of hair in his hand.  “No,” he answered quietly as he pulled out his watch, opening the back and gently placing the curl back in its hiding place.  “You see, I wasn’t the only one that had fallen in love.  She had too.”

“If she loved you, why didn’t she marry you?”

“I asked her why she wouldn’t marry me.  She told me that she couldn’t do that to me.  She knew of my dreams to come West and build a life.  She knew that I’d want children and she couldn’t give me that.”

“So she said no because she loved you.”

“Yes.”

Adam studied his father a moment, debating with himself if he should ask the question that had popped into his mind.

“Go ahead, Son.  Ask.”  Ben encouraged him with a smile, almost sure he knew what his son wanted to ask.

“Did my mother know about Arianna?”

“All of my wives knew of Arianna.”

Adam hadn’t expected that answer.  “You told _all_ of them about her?”

“I did.”  Ben told him.  “I didn’t keep secrets from my wives, Adam.  I didn’t want them to find this lock of hair and think that I had a mistress.  I told your mother of Arianna two days after we were married.  When I showed her the curl, Elizabeth just fingered it tenderly then smiled up at me and told me that she’d like to thank Arianna for being such a wonderful teacher.”

The father and son grew quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. 

Adam had always known his father was a man of integrity and character, but he’d never realized just how deep those traits ran.  He agreed with his father, there was always a first, he himself had one.  But he knew without a doubt that he’d never be able to tell his future wife about the experience or the woman.

Ben studied his son, knowing what his thoughts were, and wishing that he could change things.  He knew that his son had gone to one of the women in town for his first experience.  If only Marie hadn’t died.  If only he hadn’t gotten lost in his grief.  Maybe he could have given Adam a first time as memorable as his had been.


End file.
